Brawl Stars

Supercell has gained a lot of popularity over the years, which all started with Clash of Clans which branched out to other games like Boom Beach, and Clash Royale. They’ve now ventured into the world of shooters with Brawl Stars. Brawl Stars is a mobile game available on IOS and Android where players take control of one of many brawlers and join in team battles ranging from gem grab to something they call Brawl Ball.

As I said earlier, Brawl Stars is a Top-down shooter MOBA game, something like Paladins or Overwatch but with an overhead view instead of first person. The main menu UI is very intuitive, with the easily distinguishable icons. From here players can choose to visit the store, change their brawlers, collect achievements, and of course, start their matches. Most games are usually 3v3 team battles that regularly changes to keep the game fresh every time, my favorite of them being Heist. There are also special event matches that require a ticket to play, some will pit you and 2 others against a giant boss, another will make you protect an objective for as long as you can, though there is one that has interested me which is a 5v1, where the 1 player is a giant and must survive for as long as they can.

That’s enough about the matches, now I’ll talk about the brawlers. Currently, there are 22 brawlers out, each with their own distinct voices. Each brawler falls under certain roles just like in other MOBAs. There are Fighters, Sharpshooters, Heavyweights, Throwers, and Assassins. My favorite among the 22 brawlers being El Primo the Luchador.

I’ve talked about the matches and brawlers, but what about gameplay and controls? well actually the game is very simple, it uses 2 sets of “joysticks”, sadly no gamepad support. the left stick controls the movement, while the right stick controls the aim and firing of the gun. If you’re caught in the middle of a fight and just need to fire off some shots the game has also incorporated a tap mechanic as well, just tap the right side of the screen and the game will target the closest enemy. Another similarity with Overwatch and Paladins is the ult, if you land some hits your meter builds up, once full just tap and hold the red button to aim, and let go to fire it, most of which destroys terrain both brush and walls, which is another cool feature and offers more strategy as the matches go on.

The game is definitely a lot more loose with their theme this time compared to their earlier releases, which opens up a lot for wackier game modes, and more characters to add to the game. The art style has some nods to the older games but sets itself apart with the comic like feel of the game. I’ve enjoyed all the matches I’ve had so far, though I would have preferred being able to talk to my teammates in random pickups before matches start so I could better adjust my playstyle, but then that’s easily remedied by making friends and inviting them to the team before joining a match. Controls are solid, though if you just play right off the bat you might find the movement controls hard to use because if you move your thumb farther than its limit, it will follow your thumb, changing your orientation which is easily fixed with a quick visit to the game’s control settings. One of my problems though is the energy system they have, again, which is to be expected from mobile games. The game gives you 100 stars to earn, which is used to open up chests for random prizes. They’ll quickly run out within about 5 games minimum since you use up 20 every time you win. This doesn’t mean you won’t earn anything if you keep playing when it runs out. The game gives out and deducts trophies, which are used in their ranking system.

You can try out the game for yourself and experience it yourself by downloading it on the App Store or on the Google Playstore.